Panel Urges Research On 'Nonlethal' Weapons

An Alternative To Tear Gas Sought

November 05, 2002|By AARON ZITNER Special to the Daily Press

WASHINGTON — A panel of the National Research Council called Monday for more study by the military of "nonlethal" chemicals that might control crowds or hostile people -- a particularly sensitive subject after Russian forces took as many as 118 lives last month by using a gas to end a hostage standoff in a Moscow theater.

The panel's recommendation was part of a broad endorsement of the idea that military commanders need a wide range of nonlethal weapons on hand because they are being called on to serve in more situations short of outright war.

In 1996, the Pentagon started a small but formal effort to study new types of rubber bullets, underwater systems to protect ships, energy beams to stop vehicles, and other technologies that might incapacitate people or machinery without causing death.

The goal was to better respond to hostile civilians during peacekeeping missions, humanitarian efforts and other such situations. In addition, the Pentagon saw a role for nonlethal weapons in defending ships and buildings, especially when there is little time to determine if an oncoming vehicle is friendly or carrying explosives.

"Terrorists often put themselves in the middle of noncombatants, so how do you deal with that?" asked Miriam E. John, a senior administrator at Sandia National Laboratories and chairwoman of the panel that wrote the report. "You can't go in and blow it to pieces. You have to have some options to neutralize folks, so you can then sort out the bad guys from the good guys."

Nonlethal weapons, John said, "should be a more integral part of war-fighting capabilities."

The Navy office that requested the report gave no comment Monday.

The National Research Council is part of the National Academies of Science, a congressionally chartered organization that advises the federal government on science and technology.

The National Research Council panel that wrote the report recommended that the Navy "invest in a richer portfolio" of research in several areas, including chemical agents.

Chemical agents are the most controversial area of nonlethal technology, largely because their use is limited by an international treaty which bars the use of chemical agents -- even tear gas -- in warfare, but allows their use for law-enforcement and riot control.